Cold War Civil Defence in Western Europe by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030842819
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Conclusion

Our study has shown that Swedish and Danish filmmaking during 1949–1965 reflected a transition in both the imagination of future warfare and the rationale of civil defence. Following the thermonuclear disruption of the mid-1950s, the central imaginary of civil defence in both Sweden and Denmark underwent significant change in an effort to retain credibility. Although several mantras of civil defence persisted—including a dogged insistence on the value of preparedness and preparation—during the late 1950s and early 1960s, the national, collectively oriented legacy of aerial defence was transformed in both countries. A shift towards individualisation can effectively be read through film and television, which constitutes a rich source for studying imaginaries of civil defence and their embedding. Films produced towards the end of the period placed more emphasis on instruction and detailed information, while seeking to embed this new set of responsibilities in modernising societies and through shifting media cultures. They did so at least in part as a response to mounting political pressure for more information arising from national, transnational and international anti-nuclear movements.

The theoretical approach lodged in the concept of sociotechnical imaginaries has been productive especially in attuning us to the nature and dynamics of films as a form of psychosocial embedding. Moreover, it has allowed us to bring out just how closely technology and social norms were imbricated in visions of the next war. Still, important analytical and theoretical questions remain, and we are not absolved of grappling with thorny issues about the demarcation of imaginaries, the inescapable overlap between embedding and extension, or the precise influence, reception or effect of a particular imaginary. It is very hard to say something definite about such matters, and most empirical studies will be faced with questions about the representativeness of the source material and the reach of conclusions. In the context of empirical studies, these kinds of theoretical debates will persist and are to be welcomed. Yet, there are also more glaring pitfalls to avoid. In particular, the risk of producing a teleological narrative that reduces change to technological ‘progress’ appears especially pertinent. Staying true to the underlying logic of co-production in the analysis of sociotechnical imaginaries is demanding, not least because it is a common inclination to identify social effects of specific technologies. The reverse dynamic—how social practices, norms, identities and institutions shape specific understandings of or responses to a technology—appears less habitual.

In our analysis, the process of (visual) individualisation of responsibility and its resulting changes in imaginaries of civil defence were not simply epiphenomena of technological change. Indeed, civil defence communication also shaped the public imagination of nuclear war and survival. The extent to which the films influenced the behaviour of the ‘ordinary citizen’ is impossible to determine, yet we should perhaps be wary of thinking too much along such lines that sustain a positivist approach to (visual) propaganda, information campaigns, or really any form of public narration by state representatives. In contrast, it may be more productive to approach these films as attempts at embedding. We are

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.